I Will Follow You into the Dark
by cherryade
Summary: Dean said yes to Michael. Sam said yes to Lucifer. The epic battle took place and ended. The brothers are dead but finally together. Major Character Deaths. Bittersweet. Copious amount of brotherly love and a small bit of Wee!chester if you squint.


**Inspired by I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie. I would suggest not reading this and listening to that at the same time unless you enjoy crying while reading fanfiction.**

It was faster than he thought it would be.

First, it was bright. He could hear the birds chirping merrily, the breeze whistling cheerfully in his ears and the sounds of an epic battle over the apocalypse raging around him. He could feel his limbs moving, energy erupting from his fingers as he was controlled by the archangel Michael. It was lucky he could not see. If so, the fact that he had to watch his body being manoeuvred to kill his brother, or what was inside his brother, would destroy him utterly.

Then, it became dark. It was sudden, like the exact point of entry where a diver collides with the water's surface to enter a new world of watery perception. He was floating in a limbo of blackness. It was silent, like the pine box he was buried in after the hellhounds ravaged his body and stole his soul. For a moment, he drifted in the calmness. So this was being at peace, at rest, without anyone or anything to dictate his life. A smile graced his lips.

"Dean?"

Dean bolted upright, eyes snapping open. He was immediately aware that he was giving off a faint shimmery light. His heart would have beat faster, but he had no physical heart to speak of in his form.

"Sammy?" he called out anxiously. A sudden fear gripped him.

Another shimmering figure appeared in the darkness. Relief flowed through him like cold water on a hot day. Sam drew closer, his head cocked at the curious angle he used to hold it when he was confused as a child.

"Where are we?" Sam asked, looking around. All around them, the landscape was empty and black. It gave Dean a feeling of vertigo to realise that he could not distinguish the surface he was standing on from the air above it. Dean shrugged.

"You tell me, college boy," he said, but the sarcasm was gone. Sam said nothing as he bent down to touch the floor. His hands encountered empty air.

"Huh," he exhaled thoughtfully. Then a curious gleam entered his brown eyes as he looked up into his brother's green ones. "Dean," he said almost happily. "I think we're dead."

Dean smirked. "And you're so happy about it because?" he asked.

"It's over," Sam declared triumphantly. "All the fighting, all the pain, it's over."

Unwittingly, Dean smiled. His thoughts brought him to the conversation he had with Ash in Heaven. Everyone had an individual Heaven, he had said, but soul mates were destined to be with each other for eternity.

"That's good, 'lil bro," he said. "But there's nothing here to do. We're about to spend an eternity in boredom."

Sam's brow creased into a frown. He glanced around again, as if expecting some object or another to materialise.

"Mom and dad will come soon, I bet," he muttered half to himself. "Then we'll be together again." Dean shook his head.

"No, I don't think so," he said softly. His eyes were bright. "This is our Heaven. It's just you and me."

Sam cocked his head to the side again and was about to question his meaning when suddenly, he jumped back with a surprised exclamation. Dean was shrinking slowly, his age stripping away in filigrees of black light. His height was dwindling as his clothes shrunk to fit. His face reflected the shock on Sam's face. It was not until he looked down that he realised that he too was encircled by tendrils of fading light.

"What the hell?" Dean gasped as he patted himself as if to reassure himself that he was still there. His confused gaze met his brother's. They were fifteen and eleven again.

"This isn't Hell, Dean," a familiar voice said and both Sam and Dean jumped. Their combined gaze swept the barren landscape for the source of the voice.

"Cas?" Dean asked incredulously.

"Yes, Dean," replied Castiel's voice. "I don't have much time. You are in a place neither angels nor demons can access." There was a sound like static. It grated on their ears.

"It's the Green Room," Castiel said.

"It's not very green," Dean remarked. Sam stifled a laugh. This was just a taste of what Heaven would be like. To have Dean protect him and look after him for all eternity. Castiel ignored the remark.

"It's the gateway to the final resting place of all hunters. A place with a security system much better than the place you are in now." Static. "No supernatural entity can penetrate the dome that encircles the place. It's a reward to those who dedicate their lives to saving people and hunting things. Eternal peace."

Dean could feel tears in his eyes. Eternal peace with mom, dad and Sammy? The prospect seemed too good to be true.

"Who won?" Sam asked the emptiness. Dean focused his attention elsewhere and away from his burning desire to enter this haven. The static crackled again.

"I have to go," Castiel's voice said. "Rest and rest well." With a sound like a phone line being cut, Castiel was gone. Sam and Dean looked around, irritated. Then, the desire to know, the urge to help the people who inhabited the Earth above or below or somewhere, desisted. Their hardened features softened. With a noise like a vacuum cleaner, a swirling portal opened in the distance. They could hear the merry giggling and play of children and the cheerful banter between adults. The homely leather scent of the Impala drifted out from this portal as a familiar throaty purr reached their ears. Identical grins spread across their faces.

"Ready?" Dean asked as he clasped his little brother's hand in his. Sam nodded, his fingers curling around his brother's. A feeling of complete and utter contentment washed through them. This is where they belonged, together, with each other, where Dean did not have to worry about Sam getting killed and Sam did not have to worry about Dean giving up his life for him.

Together, they walked towards the swirling portal towards peace, for eternity.


End file.
